The
Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany
's football league system.
The term
Bundesliga also applies to
football in Austria and is used
to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other
sports in the two
countries.
Germany was unusual, in that, unlike in most other countries, a
unified national league structure was quite late in developing. The
Bundesliga was not formed until 1963 and the structure and
organisation of the nation's football leagues have undergone
frequent changes right up to the present day. The league was
originally founded by the
German Football Association, but
is now operated by the
Deutsche Fußball Liga.
Overview
The Bundesliga is composed of two divisions: the 1. Bundesliga
(although it is rarely referred to with the
First prefix),
and, below that, the 2. Bundesliga (Second Bundesliga), which has
been the second tier of German football since 1974. The Bundesligen
(pl.) are professional leagues. Since 2008, the 3. Liga (3rd
League) in Germany is also a professional league, but may not be
called Bundesliga because the league is run by the German Football
Association (DFB) and not, as are the 2 Bundesligen, by the German
Football League (DFL).
Below the level of the 3rd league, leagues are generally often
subdivided on a regional basis. For example, the Regionalligen are
currently made up of Nord (North), Süd (South) and West divisions,
and the Oberligen (upper leagues) are composed of nine divisions
representing federal states or large urban and geographical areas.
The levels below the
Oberligen
differ between the local areas. The league structure has changed
frequently and typically reflects the degree of participation in
the sport in various parts of the country.
In the early 1990s,
changes were driven by the reunification of Germany and the
subsequent integration of the national leagues of East
and West
Germany
.
Every team in the two Bundesligen must have a licence to play in
the league, or else they are relegated into the regional leagues.
To obtain a licence, teams must be financially healthy and meet
certain standards of conduct as organisations.
As in other national leagues, there are significant benefits to
being in the top division:
- A greater share of television broadcast licence revenues goes
to 1. Bundesliga sides.
- 1. Bundesliga teams draw significantly greater levels of fan
support. Average attendance in the first league is 38,000 per game
— more than twice the average of the 2. Bundesliga.
- Greater exposure through television and higher attendance
levels helps 1. Bundesliga teams attract the most lucrative
sponsorships.
- 1. Bundesliga teams develop substantial financial muscle
through the combination of television and gate revenues,
sponsorships and marketing of their team brands. This allows them
to attract and retain skilled players from domestic and
international sources and to construct first-class stadium
facilities.
The 1. Bundesliga is financially strong, and the 2. Bundesliga has
begun to evolve in a similar direction, becoming more stable
organisationally and financially, and reflecting an increasingly
higher standard of professional play.
Internationally, the most well-known German clubs include
Bayern Munich,
Hamburger SV,
Borussia Dortmund,
Schalke 04 and
Werder Bremen. Hamburger SV can lay claim
to being the only club that has played continuously in the
Bundesliga since its foundation.
Effective from the 2008–09 season, the Bundesliga will reinstate an
earlier German system of promotion and relegation:
- The bottom two finishers in the Bundesliga are automatically
relegated to the 2. Bundesliga, with the top two finishers in the
2. Bundesliga taking their place.
- The third-from-bottom club in the Bundesliga will play a
two-legged match with the third-place team from the 2. Bundesliga,
with the winner taking up the final place in the following season's
Bundesliga.
For several years, a different system had been used in which the
bottom three finishers of the Bundesliga had been automatically
relegated, to be replaced by the top three finishers in the 2.
Bundesliga. (Before 1974-75 it was only four clubs that changed
places instead of six).
The season starts in early August and lasts until late May, with a
winter break of six weeks (mid-December through to the end of
January). In recent years, games have been played on Saturdays
(seven games beginning at 3:30 pm) and Sundays (two games beginning
at 5:00 pm). A new television deal in 2006 reintroduced a Friday
game (beginning at 8:30 pm) in place of one of the Saturday
matches.
History
Origins
- For more details on this topic, see History of German
football
Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga, German football was
played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional
leagues until, in 1949, part time (semi-) professionalism was
introduced and only five regional
Oberligen (Premier
Leagues) remained. Regional champions and runners-up played a
series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game
for the national championship.
On 28 January 1900, a national association,
the Deutscher Fußball
Bund (DFB) had been founded in Leipzig
with
86 member clubs.
The first
recognised national championship team was VfB Leipzig, who beat DFC
Prague 7-2 in a game played at Altona
on 31 May
1903.
Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of
a central professional league, especially as professional leagues
in other countries began to draw Germany's best players away from
the semi-professional domestic leagues. At the international level
the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly
against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of
the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp
Herberger who said, “If we want to remain competitive
internationally, we have to raise our expectations at the national
level.”
Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with
the formation of the
DS-Oberliga
(Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga) in 1950. The league was
re-named the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally
referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league
fielded 14 teams with two relegation spots.
Establishment
The defeat of the national team by Yugoslavia (0–1) in a 1962 World
Cup quarter final game in Chile was one impetus (of many) to the
formation of a national league. Under new DFB president Hermann
Gösmann (elected that very day) the Bundesliga was created in
Dortmund on 28 July 1962 to begin play starting with the 1963–64
season.
At the time, there were five
Oberligen (Premier Leagues)
in place representing West Germany's North, South, West, Southwest,
and Berlin. East Germany, under Soviet occupation, maintained its
separate league structure. Forty-six clubs applied for admission to
the new league. Sixteen teams were selected based on their success
on the field, economic criteria and representation of the various
Oberligen.
- From Oberliga Nord:
Eintracht Braunschweig,
Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV
- From Oberliga West:
Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Köln,
Meidericher SV (now MSV Duisburg), Preußen Münster, Schalke 04
- From Oberliga
Südwest: 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Saarbrücken
- From Oberliga Süd:
Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruher SC, 1. FC
Nuremberg, TSV 1860
München, VfB Stuttgart
- From Oberliga Berlin:
Hertha BSC Berlin
The first Bundesliga games were played on 24 August 1963. Early
favorite 1. FC Köln was the first Bundesliga champion (with 45:19
points) over second place clubs Meidericher SV and Eintracht
Frankfurt (both 39:25).
Qualifying system
The qualifying system for the new league was fairly complex. The
league placings of the clubs playing in the
Oberligen for
the last ten seasons were taken into consideration, whereby results
from 1952 to 1955 counted once, results from 1955 to 1959 counted
double and results from 1959 to 1963 triple. A first place finish
was awarded 16 points, a sixteenth place one point. Appearances in
the German championship or
DFB-Pokal
finals were also rewarded with points. The five
Oberliga
champions of the 1962-63 season were granted direct access to the
Bundesliga. All up, 46 clubs applied for the 16 available
Bundesliga slots.
Following this system, by 11 January 1963, the DFB announced nine
fixed clubs for the new league and reduced the clubs eligible for
the remaining seven places to 20. Clubs within the same Oberliga
that were separated by less than 50 points were considered on equal
rank and the 1962-63 placing was used to determined the qualified
team.
The breakdown for the five
Oberligas was as follows:
- Oberliga
Nord: Eight clubs applied for Bundesliga membership,
of those Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen qualified early (11 January
1963). The third place went to Eintracht Braunschweig due to their
third place finish in 1962–63 even though their overall points put
them in seventh spot in the ranking, but within 50 points of
third-placed VfL Osnabrück.
Osnabrück finished seventh in 1962-63.
Points table:
- Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: B 11,
accessed: 4 November 2008
- Oberliga
West: All Oberliga West clubs except TSV
Marl-Hüls applied for Bundesliga membership. Borussia Dortmund, 1.
FC Köln and FC Schalke 04 qualified early. Meidericher SV and
Preußen Münster qualified even though both clubs had less points
than Alemannia Aachen. Aachen
finished fifth, Meidericher SV came in fourth and Preußen Münster
earned a third place finish in 1962–63.
Points table:
- Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: B 11,
accessed: 4 November 2008
- Oberliga
Berlin: Only three clubs applied for the one available
spot, Hertha BSC Berlin qualified early.
Points table:
| Rank |
Club |
Points 1952 to 1963 |
Place in 1962–63 |
| 1 |
Hertha BSC Berlin 1 |
346 |
1 |
| 2 |
Tasmania 1900 Berlin 3 |
324 |
2 |
| 3 |
Viktoria 89 Berlin 3 |
318 |
9 |
- Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: B 12,
accessed: 4 November 2008
- Oberliga
Süd: Of the thirteen clubs from this league applying,
the 1. FC Nuremberg and Eintracht Frankfurt qualified early.
Karlsruher SC and VfB Stuttgart held third and fourth place in the
overall points ranking. Kickers
Offenbach and FC Bayern Munich missed out to TSV 1860 Munich
due to the latter winning the league in 1962–63 even though 1860
were 153 points behind Offenbach and 59 behind FC Bayern.
Points table:
| Rank |
Club |
Points 1952 to 1963 |
Place in 1962–63 |
| 1 |
1. FC Nuremberg
1 |
447 |
2 |
| 2 |
Eintracht Frankfurt 1 |
420 |
4 |
| 3 |
Karlsruher SC 2 |
419 |
5 |
| 4 |
VfB Stuttgart 2 |
408 |
6 |
| 5 |
Kickers Offenbach 2 |
382 |
7 |
| 6 |
FC Bayern Munich 2 |
288 |
3 |
| 7 |
TSV 1860 Munich 2 |
229 |
1 |
| 8 |
VfR Mannheim 3 |
227 |
12 |
| 9 |
SpVgg Fürth 3 |
224 |
9 |
| 10 |
1. FC Schweinfurt 05 3 |
185 |
11 |
| 11 |
FC Bayern Hof 3 |
90 |
13 |
| 12 |
TSV Schwaben Augsburg 3 |
61 |
15 |
| 13 |
KSV Hessen Kassel 3 |
36 |
10 |
- Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: B 12,
accessed: 4 November 2008
- Oberliga
Südwest: Of the seven clubs from the league applying,
the 1. FC Saarbrücken qualified early even though FK Pirmasens and Borussia Neunkirchen were less than ten
points behind in the overall ranking and finished better in
1962–63. The rumor persists that Saarbrücken was chosen because it
was from the home state of the later DFB chairman Hermann Neuberger (Chairman from 1975 to
1992), a very influential figure in German football. The DFB
justified the choice of the 1. FCS with the fact that the club had
a superior infrastructure to the other two. The 1. FC
Kaiserslautern also qualified.
Points table:
| Rank |
Club |
Points 1952 to 1963 |
Place in 1962–63 |
| 1 |
1. FC Kaiserslautern
2 |
464 |
1 |
| 2 |
1. FC Saarbrücken
1 |
384 |
5 |
| 3 |
FK Pirmasens 2 |
382 |
3 |
| 4 |
Borussia Neunkirchen 2 |
376 |
2 |
| 5 |
Wormatia Worms 3 |
278 |
4 |
| 6 |
Saar 05 Saarbrücken 3 |
229 |
9 |
| 7 |
Sportfreunde Saarbrücken 4 |
160 |
6 |
- Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: B 12,
accessed: 4 November 2008
- Bold denotes club qualified for the new
Bundesliga.
- 1 denotes club was one of the nine selected on 11
January 1963.
- 2 denotes club was one of the 20 taken into final
selection.
- 3 denotes club was one of the 15 applicants which
were removed from final selection.
- 4 denotes club withdrew Bundesliga application.
Structure and competition
The German football champion is decided strictly by play in the
Bundesliga. Each club plays every other club once at home and once
away. Originally, a victory was worth two points, with a draw worth
one point and a loss no points. Since the 1995–96 season, a victory
has been worth three points, with no change in the value of a draw
or loss. The club with the most points at the end of the season
becomes German champions. Currently, the top two clubs in the table
qualify automatically for the group phase of the
UEFA Champions League, while the
third-place team enters the Champions League at the third
qualifying round (see overview). The two teams at the bottom of the
table are relegated into the 2nd Bundesliga, while the top two
teams in the 2nd Bundesliga are promoted. The sixteenth place team
(third last), and the third place team in the 2nd Bundesliga play a
two-leg play-off match. The winner of this match plays the next
season in the Bundesliga, and the loser in the 2nd
Bundesliga.
If teams are level on points, tiebreakers are applied in the
following order:
- Goal difference for the entire season.
- Total goals scored for the entire season.
- Head-to-head results (total points).
- Head-to-head goal difference.
- Head-to-head away goals scored.
- Total away goals scored for the entire season.
If two clubs are still tied after all of these tiebreakers have
been applied, a single match is held at a neutral site to determine
the placement. However, this has never been necessary in the
history of the Bundesliga.
In terms of team selection, matchday squads must have no more than
five non-
EU representatives. Seven
substitutes are permitted to be selected, from which three can be
used in the duration of the game.
Changes in league structure
- Number of teams relegated (automatic relegation except as
noted):
- 1963/64–1973/74: 2
- 1974/75–1980/81: 3
- 1981/82–1990/91: 2 automatic plus the 16th-place team in the
First Bundesliga played a two-leg test match against the
third-place team of the Second Bundesliga for the final spot in the
First Bundesliga
- 1991/92: 4
- 1992/93-2007/08: 3
- From 2008/09 on: 2 automatic plus the 16th-place team in the
First Bundesliga playing a two-leg test match against the
third-place team of the Second Bundesliga for the final spot in the
First Bundesliga
European qualification (as of 2008–09)
- 1st and 2nd place: Group phase of UEFA Champions League
- 3rd place: 4th qualifying round of Champions League for
Non-Champions. Winners at this stage enter the group phase; losers
enter the group phase of UEFA Europa
League.
- DFB-Pokal winner: Qualifies for 4th
qualifying round of UEFA Europa
League, regardless of league position.
- If the Cup winner qualifies for the Champions League, the Cup
winner's place in the Europa League goes to the defeated Cup
finalist if it is not already qualified for European
competition—although the defeated Cup finalist will enter the
competition a stage earlier than if it had won the Cup. This rule
was retained from the Europa League's predecessor, the UEFA Cup.
- The team that benefits from this rule does not necessarily have
to be a member of the First Bundesliga. For example, although the
Second Bundesliga side Alemannia
Aachen lost to Werder Bremen in
the 2004 DFB-Pokal final, Alemannia secured an entry in the 2004–05
UEFA Cup, because Werder qualified for the Champions League as
First Bundesliga champions.
- Also, if both Cup finalists qualify for the Champions
League, an extra Europa League berth is granted to the highest
finisher in the First Bundesliga not already qualified for Europe.
This most recently happened in 2005, when the 2005 DFB-Pokal final
pitted champions Bayern Munich
against runners-up Schalke 04, with
Bayern winning. As a result, sixth-place Bayer Leverkusen received a berth in the
2005/06 UEFA Cup.
- 4th place: Qualifies for 4th qualifying round of Europa
League.
- 5th place: Qualifies for 3rd qualifying round of Europa
League.
- An additional place in the Europa League may also be granted
via the UEFA Fair Play
mechanism. This rule was maintained from the UEFA Cup.
- 16th place: Plays a two-leg relegation match (home and away)
against the 3rd placed team of the 2nd Bundesliga.
- 17th and 18th place: Directly relegated to 2nd Bundesliga.
The number of German clubs which may participate in UEFA
competitions is determined by
UEFA
coefficients, which take into account the results of a
particular nation's clubs in UEFA competitions over the preceding
five years.
History of European qualification
- European Cup/Champions League:
- Up to and including 1996/97: German champion only
- 1997–99: Top two teams
- 1999–2008: Top two teams automatically into first group phase
(only one group phase starting in 2003/04). Depending on the DFB's
UEFA coefficients standing, either
one or two other clubs (most recently one) entered at the third
qualifying round; winners at this level entered the group
phase.
- UEFA Cup/Europa League:
- Starting with the 1999/2000 season, the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) winner automatically
qualified. Depending on the DFB's UEFA coefficients standing,
anywhere from zero to three extra participants could enter. Since
the Cup Winners' Cup was folded into the UEFA Cup after 1999, the
DFB was always entitled to enter a minimum of three clubs in the
UEFA Cup, and was able to enter as many as four (the maximum for
any European federation). Teams that entered via UEFA's Fair Play
mechanism, or those that entered through the now-defunct Intertoto Cup, did not count against the
national quota. From 2006
through the final Intertoto Cup in 2008, only one First Bundesliga side
was eligible to enter the Intertoto Cup and possibly earn a UEFA
Cup berth. For the 2005/06 season, the DFB earned an extra UEFA Cup
place via the Fair Play draw; this place went to Mainz 05 as the highest-ranked club in the
Fair Play table of the First Bundesliga not already qualified for
Europe.
- Cup Winners' Cup (abolished after 1999):
- DFB-Pokal winner entered the Cup Winners' Cup. Today, that club
enters the UEFA Europa League.
Current members of the Bundesliga (2009–10 season)
SC Freiburg,
1. FSV Mainz
05, and
1. FC Nuremberg have just achieved promotion
into the Bundesliga, replacing
FC
Energie Cottbus,
Karlsruher SC,
and
Arminia Bielefeld, who
finished at the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the
2008–09
season and thus were relegated to the
2nd Bundesliga.
Verdiente Meistervereine
In 2004, the honor of “Verdiente Meistervereine” (roughly
“distinguished champion clubs”) was introduced, following a custom
first practised by the Italian club
Juventus, to recognize sides that have won multiple
championships or other honours by the display of
gold stars on their team crests and
jerseys. Each country's usage is unique and in Germany the practice
is to award one star for three titles, two stars for five titles,
three stars for ten titles, and four stars for twenty titles.
The former
East German side Berliner FC Dynamo
laid claim to the three stars of a ten-time
champion. They petitioned the league to have their
DDR-Oberliga titles recognized, but received no
reply. Dynamo eventually took matters into their own hands and
emblazoned their jerseys with three stars. This caused some debate
given what may be the tainted nature of their championships under
the patronage of East Germany's secret police, the
Stasi. The issue also affects other former East German
and pre-Bundesliga champions. In November 2005, the DFB allowed
all former champions to
display a single star inscribed with the number of titles,
including all German men's titles since 1903,
women's titles since 1974
and East German titles.
The DFB format only applies to teams playing below the Bundesliga
(the top two divisions), since there the DFL conventions remain in
force. BFC Dynamo Berlin have not followed this guideline and
continue to wear three stars, rather than a single star inscribed
with the number 10.
Greuther
Fürth unofficially display three (silver) stars for pre-war
titles in spite of being in the
Bundesliga second division.
As of May 2008 the following clubs are allowed to wear stars while
playing in the Bundesliga. The number in parentheses is for
Bundesliga titles won.
As of May 2008 the following clubs are allowed to wear one star
while playing outside the Bundesliga. The number in parentheses is
for total league championships won over the course of German
football history, and would be included within the star.
Media coverage
Sky holds the rights to broadcast
both first and second division matches on a
pay-per-view basis.
Deutsche Telekom holds the IPTV rights.
Only two matches, the season opener and the opener after the winter
break, are broadcast on free television, on
ARD.
GOL TV has exclusive
U.S. and Canadian
rights to
broadcast the Bundesliga. In Australia the Bundesliga is
broadcast by
Setanta Sports and digital
channel
One HD.
Sport
Klub has the rights to broadcast in Serbia.
In Greece
, most
Bundesliga matches are broadcasted on OTE's
cable TV platform, Conn-X TV. The
rights to broadcast the Bundesliga are generally marketed by the
DFL.
SportTV broadcast one live game per week for
Portugal.
In the
United
Kingdom
the Bundesliga was formerly available to Setanta Sports subscribers with on average,
two games shown per week. However after Setanta's UK
division went out of business due to financial problems, Eurosport
secured the rights to broadcast the Bundesliga in several European
countries, on their secondary channel, Eurosport 2. From the start
of the 2009–10 season,
ESPN's
UK channel broadcasts live Bundesliga matches in
the UK.
In Australia four exclusive games per week from the Bundesliga are
broadcast on
Setanta
Sports.
Champions
In total, 43 clubs have won the German championship.
FC Bayern Munich have 21 titles, more than
any other club.
The clubs with the next most titles are
BFC Dynamo
Berlin (10; all accomplished in the GDR Oberliga) and
1. FC Nuremberg (9).
The clubs with the most
Bundesliga titles besides
FC Bayern Munich (20 titles) are
Borussia Mönchengladbach (5)
and
Werder Bremen (4).
Borussia Dortmund,
Hamburger SV and
VfB
Stuttgart are tied with (3) in addition to
FC Köln and
FC
Kaiserslautern who have (2) while
TSV 1860 Munich,
Eintracht Braunschweig,
1. FC
Nuremberg and
VfL Wolfsburg have
(1).
VfL Wolfsburg are the current
title-holders.
Records
Charly Körbel
Top Ten Players With Most Appearances
Gerd Müller
Top Ten Highest Goalscorers
|
| Player |
Period |
Club |
Goals |
| 1 |
Gerd Müller |
1965–1979 |
FC Bayern
Munich |
365 (Ø 0,85) |
| 2 |
Klaus Fischer |
1968–1988 |
FC Schalke 04 |
268 (Ø 0,50) |
| 3 |
Jupp Heynckes |
1965–1978 |
Borussia Mönchengladbach |
220 (Ø 0,60) |
| 4 |
Manfred
Burgsmüller |
1969–1990 |
Borussia
Dortmund |
213 (Ø 0,48) |
| 5 |
Ulf Kirsten |
1990–2003 |
Bayer 04
Leverkusen |
181 (Ø 0,52) |
|
| 6 |
Stefan Kuntz |
1983–1999 |
1. FC Kaiserslautern |
179 (Ø 0,40) |
| 7 |
Dieter Müller |
1973–1986 |
1. FC Köln |
177 (Ø 0,58) |
| 8 |
Klaus Allofs |
1975–1993 |
1. FC Köln |
177 (Ø 0,42) |
| 9 |
Hannes Löhr |
1964–1977 |
1. FC Köln |
166 (Ø 0,44) |
| 10 |
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge |
1974–1984 |
FC Bayern
Munich |
162 (Ø 0,52) |
Other records
See also
References
- DSFS Ligachronik: Qualifikation zur Bundesliga 1963 , page: B
11 - 12, publisher: Deutscher Sportclub für Fussballstatistik -
DSFS, accessed: 3 November 2008
- http://www.dfb.de/bliga/bundes/meister/index.html
- where player played the most games.
- where player shot the most goals
External links
- History
- Bundesliga — All results since 1963,
statistics, compare teams.
2
in 2002.)
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